December 2027: four Monday moons and five Fridays
Dispatch, December 2027: the prizes went out on Friday 10 December, on the date the ceremonies keep every year. Stockholm presented five of this year's Nobel awards, and Oslo presented the Peace Prize, with the banquet to follow. A week later, on Friday 17 December, Avengers: Secret Wars opens in cinemas and closes a very long comic-book saga. The month runs 31 days, opens on a Wednesday, closes on a Friday and keeps 23 business days in between.
The closing shape
December 2027 runs 31 days, from Wednesday 1 December to Friday 31 December. Count 23 business days and eight weekend days, the year's richest second-half month, inside weeks 48 to 52. The grid is generous, and the evenings, at this latitude, are not. Week 52 is the year's last numbered week.
Five Wednesdays fall on 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 December. Five Thursdays follow on 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 December. Five Fridays complete the set on 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 December. The weekend makes do with four of each, and holds its peace.
The Monday moon ladder
Every lunar phase this month climbs a Monday rung, four of them in a row. First quarter arrives on Monday 6 December, and the full moon follows on Monday 13 December. Last quarter lands on Monday 20 December, and the new moon on Monday 27 December. The full moon of the 13th is the brightest night the month manages, and the tidiest.
The December solstice falls on Wednesday 22 December. It is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and the longest in the southern. From the 22nd onwards the northern days lengthen again, at their own unhurried pace. The tilt is the oldest calendar there is, and it keeps its appointment.
Dates to set in ink
Friday 10 December belongs to Stockholm and Oslo, prizes first and banquet after, on the customary date. Friday 17 December belongs to the cinema, on the month's third Friday. Both land inside weeks 49 and 50, which makes them straightforward to grid. The last Friday, the 31st, sees the year out with all 31 days spent.
However the month ends at your house, the grid keeps it plain: squares, numbers and room to write. December rewards whoever holds the pencil. The fifth Friday hands the year on with no ceremony whatsoever.
December 2027 finishes what the year started, moon by Monday moon. The solstice turns on Wednesday the 22nd, and the month goes out on its fifth Friday.